Supplemental sleeve for multiwall gusseted valve bag



June 10, 1958 5. Y. cARNEs ET AL 2,838,225

SUPPLEMENTAL SLEEVE FOR MULTIWALL GUSSETED VALVE BAG Filed Aug. 9, 1954 I I. M10 WM N 1W m M w .v 1

2 WW 4 M ATTORNEY- SUPPLEMENTAL 'SLEEVE FOR GUSSETED VALVE BAG Sheldon Y. Carnes, Englewood, N. L, and Robert F. Searle, Canajoharie, N. Y.,' assigno'r's to Arkell and Smiths, a corporation-of NewYor-k Application August 9, 1954, Serial No. 8,718 2 Claims. c1. 22942.5

This invention relates to the manufacture of paper bags and in particular to an improved construction for the valve in a gusseted bag-wherein "a supplemental sheet of paper is so constructed and positioned in the valve of the bag that it supplements valving a'ction'and facilitates filling and sealing the bag.

Attempts have heretofore been made to improve the valve in a gusseted bag by sewing a supplemental sheet of paper in the valve, but these attempts have not proven entirely satisfactory because the sheet is so rigidly held by the stitching that the filling nozzle frequently tears the sheet or crumples it up and it thereby becomes ineffective for its intended purpose. In accordance with the present invention, this problem of tearing and crumpling the sheet has been successfully *overcome and there has been developed an entirely satisfactory form of supplemental sheet which is so eonstructedand held by the stitching in the bag that the .filling nozzle causes the sheet to separate from the stitching which gives the sheet great flexibility. As a result of this flexibility the supplemental sheet readily adapts itself to the filling nozzle without tearing or crumpli-ng-and it effectively supplements valving action which makes our bag particularly useful for packaging finely divided pulverulent materials.

These and other advantages of our improved valve construction for gusseted paper bags can be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing the way our supplemental sheet may be positioned across the underside of the valve flap of a gusseted bag;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a gusseted valve bag cut away in part to show our improved valve construction;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken from inside the bag which shows a filling nozzle in the valve of the bag;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of the bag of 'Fig. 3 cut away in part to show the way the supplemental sheet is opened up by the filling nozzle;

Fig. 5 illustrates the way the sheet folds up after the filling operation; and

Fig. 6 illustrates the sheet in a closed position in a filled bag.

Turning now to the drawings, 10 is the top portion of a gusseted bag having a valve 12 which, as is customary in the art, is made by folding a portion of gusset 14 and bag wall 16 inwardly into the bag at one side of its mouth 18. If desired, the mouth of the bag may be provided with a flap of material 20 in the area of valve 12. Bag mouth 18 is closed by a line of stitching 22 and a strip of paper 24 is ordinarily positioned over the bag mouth to seal it. Bag 10 may be made of one or more plies of paper, depending upon the strength required for packaging the type of material for which it is intended.

In carrying out our invention, one end portion of a supplemented sheet of paper 28 is pasted or otherwise affixed across the entire width of the underside of ice valve 12. The sheet projects into the bag and its side -edges 30 are securely held by the line of stitching 22 in the mouth of the bag. The stitches across the top of the bag pass through both of the side walls of the bag and through the supplemental sheet and the line of stitching 22 closes the mouth of the bag. Sheet 28 provides a large supplemental valving area which is of the same width as valve 12 throughout its length and which extends from the inner edge of valve 12 all the way to the end edge 32 of the sheet. In order to achieve the required flexibility in the sheet so that there is no tendency for it to tear or crumple when a tapered filling nozzle 34 is inserted into the bag we slit the sheet in three places. The location of these slits is highly important for proper functioning of the sleeve during the filling and sealing operations.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, slit 36 is positioned just below the line of stitching 22 and at a distance from the side of the sheet which is less than one-eighth of the distance across the width of the sheet 28. A second slit 38 is likewise positioned inwardly from the second side of the sheet at a distance. which is less than one-eighth of the distance across the width of the sheet and the second slit is also positioned slightly below the line of stitching 22. Both of the slits 36 and 38 extend from the inner edge of valve 12 out to edge 32. In order to hold sheet 28 in line with valve 12 to facilitate starting a tapered filling nozzle 34 into the supplemental valving area, each of the slits 36 and 38 are interrupted by one or more attachment tabs 40 which secure the main body of the sheet to its side portions 41 and 42 @which are held in the bag mouth by stitching 22.

Attachment tabs may be conveniently formed by leaving a portion of the sheet intact in the slit so that slits 36 and 38 are interrupted by small tabs of the paper. If only one attachment tab is used in each slit we prefer to locate the tab out near edge 32 of sheet 28.

With this construction, sheet 28 is positively held in line with valve 12 by means of the attachment tabs 40, but this does not impair flexibility of our sheet because jamming the filling nozzle into the bag ordinarily breaks the tabs and as a result the body of the supplemental sheet is free to adapt itself to the nozzle independently of its side portions which are rigidly held by stitching 22 in the mouth of bag 10. Another advantage of this construction for sheet 28 is that the two side portions 41 and 42 form a cushion between the stitching and filling nozzle so that the force of the weight of the filled bag is not directly applied against stitching 22. As is known, the stitching is the weakest part of the bag and the cushioning effect of the side portions of sheet 28 eliminates any tendency for the bag to break open along the line of stitching during the filling operation.

Referring to Fig. 3, after the bag is filledand the tapered filling nozzle 34 is withdrawn from the filled bag the valve opening is closed up by the material in the bag which presses the bottom portion 44 of the valve up towards stitching 22 so that it is tightly folded up against the inwardly folded portions of the bag wall 16. The bottom portion of the valve is divided in half at its center line 46 and each side lies flatly against the inwardly folded portions of the bag wall. As most clearly shown in Fig. 5, the center line 46 of the bottom portion of valve 12 is folded upwardly so that it fits into the peak of the bag at stitching 22. Sheet 28, of course, folds along with valve 12, and the supplemental sheet ordinarily tends to crumple up as the sheet moves up into the peak of the bag.

In order to avoid crumpling of the supplemental sheet in the peak of the bag, we provide a third slit 48 which extends from the inner edge of valve 12 down the middle of the sheet to edge 32. This gives added flexibility to the sheet and when the valve is closed up it enables the sides of the body of sheet 28 to cross over each other so that the four layers of material formed in closing up the supplemental sheet tend to intermesh and lie flatly against each other and against the wall of the bag. In this connection it is to be noted that as a result of positioning slits 36 and 38 inwardly from the sides 30 of sheet 28 at a distance which is less than one-eighth of the distance across the width of the sheet, the side portions 41 and 42 of the sheet are positioned well up in the peak of bag 10 just below stitching 22 so that this part of the sheet does not interfere with orderly folding of the body of the sheet. On the other hand, if slits 36 and 38 were positioned inwardly from the sides of the sheet at a distance greater than one-eighth of the distance across the width of the sheet, then the rigidly held side portions project so far down towards bottom portion 44 that they tend to interfere with orderly folding of the sheet. As in the case of slits 36 and 38, slit 40 is initially held closed by one or more attachment tabs 40.

It will be understood that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the preferred embodiment of the invention herein chosen for the purpose of illustration which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of our invention.

What we claim is:

l. A gusseted paper bag with walls of a plurality of plies of paper therein having a portion of one of the gussets and side wall folded inwardly into the mouth of the bag to form a valve and valve opening therein, a supplemental sheet having one end portion positioned in the valve of the bag with the remainder of the sheet extending inwardly into the bag away from the inner edge of said valve, means for attaching said end portion of the sheet in a fixed position in the valve of the bag, said sheet having both its side edges throughout their entire length securely held in the mouth of the bag by means of a line of stitching across the top of the bag that passes through the side walls of the bag and supplemental sheet to close the mouth of the bag, said sheet having three slits positioned therein each of which extends from the inner edge of the valve out to the free end edge of the sheet inside the bag, said sheet being imperforate between said slits, one of said slits being positioned in the middle of the sheet which divides the 'body of the sheet in half and each of the other two slits being positioned along opposite sides of the sheet immediately below the line of stitching across the top of the bag subtsantially in alinement with the upper extremity of the valve opening in the bag, whereby the body of the supplemental sheet is free of the line of stitching across the top of the bag so that it may readily adapt itself to a nozzle during the filling operation and whereby when the nozzle is withdrawn each half of the sheet below the line of stitching is free of the line of stitching so that each half may be folded over upon itself and the halves overlapped and flattened out against the side walls at the top of the bag to supplement the sealing action of the valve in the bag.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1 which includes an attachment tab positioned in each of the slits which attaches the body of the sheet together and which attaches 'the body of the sheet to that porion along each side edge which is caught in the line of stitching across the top of the bag, said attachment tabs being adapted to readily tear when a filling nozzle is inserted into the valve of the bag whereby the body of the sheet may be divided in half and each half released from that portion along each side edge which is caught in the line of stitching.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,528,419 Burroughs Oct. 31, 1950 2,573,230 Strauss Oct. 30, 1951 2,590,568 Peters et al. Mar. 25, 1952 2,651,451 Bennett Sept. 8, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 22,108/29 Australia Aug. 29, 1930 

